You are here: SriPedia - Oppiliappan - Archives - Jun 2005

Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00137 Jun 2005

 
Jun 2005 Indexes ( Date | Thread | Author )
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]


Dear srivaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

Many a times the naasthikaas ask the question "does the so called kadavuL or 
your lord in the silai form [vigraha form] require so much fanfare in the 
uthsavams spending so much money and wasting so much manpower. Why not give all 
that money in poor feeding or some such social cause?"

The answer for this question is simple. In the name of the supreme god's 
uthsavams, what is really happening is a mass poor feeding only, may be, not a 
direct throwaway 'feeding', that is happening around with a political colour, 
but after spending some amount of physical energy, combined with devotion, from 
all participating in those uthsavams. 

        *       The flower vendors, 
        *       the naadhaswara team, 
        *       the persons who carry the vaahanams - [sri paadham thaangikaL 
as they are termed in paribhaashai],  
        *       a congregation of vedha paaraayaNa and prabhandha goshti, 
        *       the baktha gOshti who visit the temple et al
are all well fed during the uthsavam days, without any doubt. So it is nothing 
but mass feeding only without the political colour, but with devotion from 
every heart participating Even curious onlookers are also fed without 
exception. Further it is also a time to meet relatives and friends, coming from 
different places and assembling at the temple. Thus there is a major social 
purpose in conducting these uthsavams. Another simple social purpose is that, 
those who are physically incapable, and not so mobile like able bodied,  
resting back in the houses and thinking the lord always, are also enabled to 
have a su -dharsanam of the lord in full royal decoration at their very 
doorsteps. That way uthsavams serve another major social cause. 

Ok. Whatever is said above is all for those living in that place or 
surrounding, where uthsavam is conducted. But, how about other aged and 
incapacitated bhakthaas who live in a different place? The answer to this 
question is to be thought about for a while.

Ha ha, I got it. If the bhakthaa is a sincere one, then Bhagavaan goes to him 
at his place even though uthsavam is conducted in lord's place. You may say 
"Hey MGV, it is a nice story, do you have any such story to support your 
contention?". 

The main purpose of writing this is to highlight that 'act' of bhagavaan. 
Otherwise why I have to ramble all these which you all very well "know"? Sri 
bhagavaan suddenly stops his royal procession and goes to that bhakthaa in a 
different place, who wanted to have a dharsanam of the lord in the procession 
that too on that particular vaahanam. The following is a fact, which is even 
now being observed. Now listen to that story - rather read that. 

There was a devotee of Varadharaaja of Kanchi, named sri Doddaachaarya who 
lived at Sholinghur. He is a devotee of lord of sholingur - sri yoga narasimhar 
and also kaanchi varadhan - pEraruLaaLan. Sri Doddaachaarya used to visit 
Kanchi for the vaikaasi brahmOthsavams regularly and in particular for the 
garuda sEvai. With advancing age it became difficult for him and he stayed back 
at Sholinghur. But was very much desiring to have the su-dharsanam of varadhan 
on the garuda vaahanam. 

On time, the Lord Varadaraaja, when brought out in procession on garuda 
vaahanam, he instructed his bearers to lower the umbrellas, so that the devotee 
sree doddaachaar will be able to see him from Sholinghur itself. Archakaas and 
others did that immediately.

This became a routine later. That ritual of that doddaacharya incident is 
faithfully followed even today. The lord while just coming out of the main 
gOpuram from the vaahana maNdapam will first have a small umbrella. As soon as 
the procession reaches the gOpura vaasal,. for few minutes with that small 
umbrella the lord will be covered for few moments. During those moments it is 
said the lord visits his devotee doddaachaarya at sholingur. After a few 
moments, the cover is removed, karpoora harathi done. Next 2 bigger umbrellas 
are mounted on the vaahanam and procession along the streets starts. 

[perhaps kaanchi natives may add few more points. What I give here is based on 
observation and as well the book by sri sundararaja thathachariar - named 
varadaraja gunaamrutha vaibhavam page 749. This doddaachaar has also written a 
small 5 slokam sthothram on varadhan named 'devaraaja panchakam']

As a standing witness to this incident, today also we can see varadhan in 
garuda vaahanam on the banks of thakkan kulam in sholingur. Sri narasimha as 
varadhan helps doddacharswamy, his bhaktha, to think of varadhan of kanchi and 
enables him to have his su-dharsanam. 

But sree muthuswamy dhikshithar, one among the trinity of our music, places 
"kari giri varadha vichaara" meaning - narasimhan himself is thinking about 
kaanchi varadhan - in his krithi [krithi given below]. Is it surprising? No. 

This is similar to lord srinivaasan of thirumalai replying brahma to do the 
naivEdhyam to narasimha of ahobilam. During the thiru aaraadhanam of srinivaasa 
kalyaaNam to padhmaavathy thaayaer, brahma did not know to whom the naivEdhyam 
is to be offered. Since the supreme lord srinivaasan is sitting there as 
maappiLLai in his own marriage, to whom the offering to be made? Is the dilemma 
of brahma. So brahma asked maappiLLai himself - to whom I have to offer please 
suggest. Brahma got reply to offer to ahobila narasimhan. So it is not 
surprising that one thinks of another.

Now read that krithi.
Ragam: mOhanam  Thalam : mishra cApu

Pallavi: 
narasimha aagachCha parabrahma puchCha sva ichCha svachCha

Anupallavi:
hari hara brahma indhra aadi poojitha athyachCha 
parama bhaagavatha prahlaadha bhakthyachCha

Caranam :
dheerathara ghatikaachala eesvara 
soura thara hEma kOtisvara veera 
vara mOhana vibhaasvara maara vara 
maanava hareesvara murahara nagadhara 
sarasija kara parama purusha pavanaja 
subha kara suruchira kari giri varadha 
vichaara sarasa guruguha hrdhaya sahachara

Meaning:
narasimha aagachCha = Come O Narasimha! 
parabrahma puchCha = of the form of the Supreme! [actually puchCha means tail, 
or end portion. For para brahma what is the tail or head - so it is the full 
form - ultimate or supreme lord]
sva ichCha = One who moves at will! 
svachCha = Pure one! Crystal clear one
hari hara brahma indhra aadi poojitha athyachCha = who is worshipped by Vishnu, 
Shiva, Brahma, Indra and others! 
parama bhaagavatha prahlaadha bhakthyachCha = One who is manifest at the behest 
of  great devotee Prahlada! 
dheerathara = Valiant one! 
ghatikaachala eesvara = Lord of Ghatikaachala (Sholingur)! 
soura thara = Brave one! 
hEma kOtisvara = Akin to gold and ten million suns in effulgence! 
veera = grand valiant 
vara mOhana = Radiant in an enchanting form! 
vibhaasvara maara = Worshipped by Cupid 
maanava hari eesvara = worshipped by great men! 
murahara - Destroyer of Mura! 
nagadhara = Carrier of the mountain! 
sarasija kara = Possessing lotus like hands! 
parama purusha = Supreme one! 
pavanaja subha kara = Benevolent to Hanuman! 
suruchira kari giri varadha vichaara = Ever meditating on the lovely Varadhan 
at Hasthi giri! 
sarasa guruguha hrdhaya sahachara = Ever present in the soft heart of guruguhan 
- [guruguha is the mudhra of dhikshithar - the composer of krithi - muthuswamy 
- or muthu kumara swamy as murugan is called].

Let us be thinking both narasimha of sholingur and one who is in his mind the 
hasthi eesan - varadhan till we receive next post on this topic - having some 
points on that ghatikaachala naathan from thirumangai aazhvaar.

Dhaasan

Vasudevan m.g.





 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oppiliappan/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    Oppiliappan-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 



[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index ] [Thread Index ] [Author Index ]
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia
oppiliappan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To subscribe to the list